Moments in Dirt and Ink

McKay Community Forest Click for map I've been waiting for things to dry out to make another foray into the southern reaches of the McKay Community Forest, this time all the way to the southern edge of the property. On the previous excursion , I only got a little way along the creek and a couple small climbs. It's not end of the summer dry, but there's a distinct containment of the wet areas these days. I decided I have waited long enough and headed to the Northridge parking area beside what is still the only officially open trails in the forest. Those trails that are officially open and signed are mapped at the kiosk next to the area rules. My first goal of the day was to cross Henderson Gulch and get high on the plateau between it and Ryan Creek. I headed for the Perimeter Trail and Triple C Trail as the most efficient way to get there. That it isn't yet dry showed up early on the road section of the Perimeter Trail as there are several spots of mud, wit...

McKay Community Forest (Click for map.) I wanted to have a hike in the McKay Community Forest focusing on those pieces that are actually within it at the north end. There would be no crossing over the creek to the easements on the McKay Tract. There would be an attempt to follow routes all the way to Park Street along the far north sliver of forest north of Myrtle Avenue. Most enjoyably, there would be wanderings of the trail system that's marked and somewhat rocked under the trees wrapping around the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. There might be a jaunt off along the other edge to a geocache that had given me troubles before. Trail or road? At the north entry to McKay Community Forest. Left is the forest, right is private property. Parking for north end of the forest is simply parallel along the side of Harris Street. There's thoughts of a lot at the fairgrounds, but that has not been secured yet. My plan was to start along the old roads, following the R-line to R-2,...

McKinleyville City Park ( map link ) McKinleyville closed escrow on their 599 acre community forest on 31 January and McKinleyville Community Services District, in whose hands that ownership and operation now resides, says the public may come and walk and ride bikes and probably even a horses. (Someone certainly has given it a try.) There are two undeveloped entry points along Murry Road to use for this access and other entry points are planned. They add that the Green Diamond Resource Company lands to the east of the forest are still closed to the public. I spent a little time with OpenStreetMap, a Strava heat map overlay, and their printable georeferenced pdf map to determine (and mark) what, exactly, was open and what was not. I also spent some time with the McKinleyville Community Forest Framework Plan and wasn't exactly sure what to expect. A little disturbing is that Green Diamond apparently went and logged three big chunks of this land between when they approache...